The Big Tent—a political coalition —yesterday, warned that the country is collapsing under the weight of poverty, insecurity, institutional decay, and elite failure.
The Convener of The Big Tent, Prof. Pat Utomi, during a media briefing, described the situation as an “existential crisis requiring urgent civic action and responsible leadership.”
“We envision Nigeria as a beacon for African progress, leading a flock of nations toward prosperity, much like the Asian Tigers. But to achieve this, we must confront hard truths. We must wake up to the suffering around us,” he said.
He noted that poverty is the most visible sign of leadership failure. He said that “75 per cent of rural Nigerians now live in chronic poverty. Hunger is ravaging the land.”
“The rural economy has collapsed. Farmers can’t farm, and yet our political elite are obsessed with convoys, jets, and SUVs. It’s morally bankrupt”, he added.
“Over 30 million Nigerians are at risk of severe food insecurity during the June–August lean season. Our agriculture team raised this alarm months ago, but the government was too distracted by propaganda,” he said.
To resolve this, Utomi suggested structural reforms including overhauling land tenure laws, empowering universities for extension services, and supporting agro-processing clusters.
“Just as land grant universities revolutionised U.S. farming, we must re-engage our academic institutions in agriculture,” he said.
On insecurity, he said there’s a link between poverty and rising violence. He said, “Poverty makes people easy recruits for terrorists and criminals. We need decentralised policing; let local governments and states manage their security.
“From cocoa in the South-West to lithium in the North-Central, each region has untapped potential. But it must be driven by the private sector, with the government acting as a smart enabler.”
